Freedom Summer 2

There are many instances where the people that fought for civil rights struggled through challenging situations which must have changed their outlook on life. Some good examples of this rest on page 81. The author states, “The fact that about 17,000 blacks traveled to the courthouse attests to the persistence of the volunteers and the extraordinary courage of those attempting to register.” He goes on to say, “The many instances of delay, obstruction, and harassment of the applicants were duly recorded by the volunteers, thus providing the evidence for several important voter discrimination suits.” As if this time wasn't tragic enough, on page 98, the author says "It turned out that Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price had coordinated the kidnapping and murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner." The fact that people would kill to stop someone from having basic rights is wrong. It did not matter if these three were African American, Caucasian, Asian, or otherwise, they deserved the right to speak their mind and not die for it, just like every African American deserved their civil rights.

These instances, along with other moments throughout the book, would have had a great impact on, and still do impact, the lives of those people. Not only has these instances impacted them, but they have also impacted us as a future generation. We were not alive to witness these events but it does do us all good to know them and to know our countries history, because an event like this should never have happened and, hopefully, will never happen again to anyone.

Nathan Dennison